Amanda's Brueggeman Blog!: Grand Budapest Hostel

First: important thing that I left out of Mac post (I told you I would). Ana teaches at a foreign language center. Like they have schools outside of schools to help supplement what students are learning in school or learn a new language all together. Ana, being fluent in Macedonian, German, and English has always just amazed me with how much she knows and I got to see where it all took place! She only had one German student when I went, a young girl who just wanted to be better at German (starting to see some differences than in American life?? Can we make these schools a cultural norm like right now, okay? thanks). It was speaking, grammar and writing. Ana even asked her to write a page on "what does your homeland mean to you?" She wrote a lot about the cultural importance of her home and her family. Which, as an outsider completely eavesdropping, seemed completely on par with what I was observing. The culture was so alive and unique compared to the places I had been which had too much of western boringness mashed in. And family, oh my god, family was overwhelming important. I met Ana's mom, dad, cousin, other cousin, aunt uncle, two more cousins from different places, and one more cousin...all of these were separate trips to meet them. And then her friends- I met all their siblings and cousins too. So much love. Overwhelmed, in a good way. So yeah, thats a little more on my Macedonian life.

And now, well I made it to Budapest a little late but definitely better than never. I'm a little sad because this was already my shortest stop over, coming here almost on a whim from a suggestion from the ever amazing Liz Harter.

So not the most thorough investigation but wow is this city amazing. I feel like there is a whole history of the world that has been hidden from me. Hungary--tell me your secrets!! Besides the absolutely gorgeous architecture of the city and the citadel I was think this city felt the most like an American city, which was the opposite of what I was expecting. I can't place my finger on it exactly but it was both uniquely its own but also had flavors of a lot of the other places I've visited.

I was able to briefly hear from Rebeka, a wonderful Hungarian woman who is studying in Budapest. I asked her opinion on Hungary in the EU because just from an observers standpoint, it is so western but also something else entirely. There were times I felt like I was in America and times where I was just like, huh. This is neat. She said she had a lot of thoughts but said that in short she think Hungary should definitely be a part of it. (we're friends on facebook, i'm going to try to get some more thoughts :P)

Side note: while I was here I finished my second book (again for those of us reading along on Amanda's book club it was Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett) which was a historical fiction book that was really focused on the Cold War (highly recommend but you should start with Fall of Giants, obviously). Anyways it was awesome reading about the Hungarian dissidence movement and the roles that the people and governments of satellite countries played in the Cold War. Again, I feel like there is a whole history I need to know (I'll be reading up on that soon). Also the book ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall and I started crying and I'm also on my way to Berlin now so I'm probably going to cry there too. ~totally in control of all emotions~

(Book club members: Next on the list is the Dovekeepers...stay tuned ;) )

Also I was struck by the role of the Catholic Church in the Cold War (lets remember that travel was restricted until 1989--so the new Hungary is about as old as my brother). JPII had an awesome quote:

Man does this guy know how to bring down Communism. But religion, here, and in Poland, was the anti-Communism, its what people clung on to in order to preserve their freedom. Wild. Especially compared to the French who literally waged a war on the church. So, wow. Religion is big here. I also was wandering around when I was waiting for my hostel room to open up (see my last post about that adventure) and happily wandered around the Jewish Quarter where I got probably the world's best bagel and saw the Great Synagogue...its really beautiful and I haven't seen enough of them.

And lastly, on religion, we see it on money and on top of the citadel. I wasn't able to take a great picture because of the angle but there is a statue of one of the saints on top of the cliff holding a cross out and blessing the city (small scale Rio I suppose?)

Two of my favorite things I got to do were (1) climbing the cliff to the citadel, it was like a completely left the city that was 20 feet behind me and in a whole new place. It was a beautiful, spur of the moment hike.

I love this one 😍😍

The second thing was the outdoor geothermal baths (basically just a pool that was naturally heated...and it was HOT). I know my mom is reading this and thinking about how disgusting it is. Yes and it was amazing. I didn't get any pictures because *water* but it was a really neat experience.

Some other pics of water